These centres of excellence will lose their sheen if the common admissions, curriculum, and faculty mobility are implemented
The decision of the Human Resource Development Ministry to introduce common admissions and curriculum, besides student and faculty mobility, and also to allow credit transfer facility to students in the existing Central universities is sure to come into force soon.
Though the peril is postponed for the present due to the pandemic, this appears, on the face of it, a retrograde step as the new regulation, if implemented, will take away the kind of autonomy and the distinct academic identity of each Central university for which they are now known, both within and abroad. The very purpose with which the Central universities were envisioned in the 1970s gets lost with such changes.
The Central government at that time felt that a few quality universities endowed with sufficient funding at some select places, in turn, will serve as benchmarks and examples to the already existing State universities, which can emulate them in matters of academic excellence. Large amounts of funds were liberally granted for such Central universities to make them islands of excellence in matters of infrastructure, in hiring distinguished faculty and in selecting quality students by holding rigorous admission tests at the national level.
The early Central universities like the Jawaharlal Nehru University, University of Hyderabad, North Eastern Hill University, Shillong, had enviable facilities in the early decades of their establishment. Many of these with their reasonably good infrastructure and academic performance, attracted young distinguished faculty, who otherwise would have left for greener pastures abroad.
By the 1990s, though the phase of funds crunch did set in, there was a steady growth in the number of Central universities. It was felt that there should be at least one Central university in each State. There was also a strong demand from the people of several States for such universities. In Assam, for example, to cater to such clamour from the people in both Brahmaputra Valley in the north and the Barak Valley in the south, two Central universities, one at Tezpur and another at Silchar, were inaugurated on a single day by then Prime Minister PV Narasimha Rao.
With the establishment of 14 new universities in one go in 2009, there is now practically no State where there is no Central university. Even in the residual State of Andhra Pradesh, after the formation of Telangana, a Central university came up in the Rayalaseema area of Anantapur. Most recently, Ladakh, the recently formed Union territory, has been sanctioned a Central university, taking the total number of such universities to 41.
The Central universities, over these decades, have come to be known for their academic excellence, quality of research and publications, high-profile faculty, linkages they have with industry and for their outreach. There were instances when young Indian scholars working with reputed Nobel laureates at several western Universities were attracted to some of the Central universities as they were equipped with top-quality laboratories and well-developed libraries.
Some Central universities as unitary universities have added extensive hostel facilities, providing accommodation for each student admitted thus making it completely residential. Another positive aspect has been the favourable ratio between the teacher and the taught. The intake of students was always kept as optimum and, therefore, a healthy student-teacher ratio was maintained. Some universities accredited by the UGC with ‘Potential of Excellence’ were able to provide, with the funds they garnered, fellowships to every student admitted. It is also a fact that a comparatively large number of UGC and CSIR sponsored JRF and SRF fellowship holders are from the Central universities.
The general trend in most Central universities has been that the ratio of students between the natives of the State concerned in which the university exists and students from other States is at 80:20. This reasonably fair ratio will be tilted if common admissions are held as there is every likelihood that students from rural areas who graduated with their mother tongue as medium would naturally be kept out of the portals of the Central universities. A common entrance test also will take away the chances of local students who come from economic and socially disadvantaged sections to secure admission to the central universities located in their States.
If there is a provision made by the new regulations for the mobility of faculty, then it is sure to be wrought with undesirable consequences. The consistent continuity of the faculty at one university becomes imperative for the kind of research work that s/he undertakes and collaborates. This becomes all the more crucial in laboratory-related research work. When a Professor ‘migrates’ to another university either on his own or as a consequential situation, we can imagine the consequent results. There will be among the faculty, constant lobbying to move for other universities based on preferences — personal or otherwise, vitiating the academic atmosphere.
Allowing students to freely shift from one university to another along with the credit transfer system, which the new regulation has envisaged, will only open Pandora’s box, confounding the confusion. It is sure to let loose every undesirable element in the placid academic waters of the universities.
Individual departments in most Central universities have the freedom to frame the courses they select to teach and have the autonomy to conduct exams and assess the students’ performance. Such academic freedom they today enjoy and the positive atmosphere they possess in the furtherance of teaching and research is sure to be undermined by the decision of the MHRD to introduce a common curriculum and inter-university mobility of students, besides the proposed national system of credit transfer. There will be inducement among some students to migrate to other universities only to pick up better grades and credits.
Reputed universities in the West like the Oxford, Cambridge, Harvard and Stanford have their reputation for the kind of identity they possess and the academic autonomy they enjoy. Our Central universities as centres of excellence should be allowed to continue their work unhindered with the kind of academic freedom they hitherto have been enjoying. Let these centres vie among themselves for excellence and not be reduced to dumb uniformity. Let us not stifle their hard-won identity in matters of teaching and research. This can be ensured only when they are allowed to function with a level of freedom and autonomy.
(The author is a retired Professor of History, University of Hyderabad)
Now you can get handpicked stories from Telangana Today on Telegram everyday. Click the link to subscribe.
Click to follow Telangana Today Facebook page and Twitter .